Document conveying means

ABSTRACT

Vertically and/or horizontally traveling conveyor belt and a pocket member for conveying documents, one of said belt and document conveyors having fixed thereto pile fabric and the other complementary hook fabric whereby the conveyor can be releasably secured to and separated from the belt when desired.

United States Patent Wilson Apr. 25, 1972 [54] DOCUMENT CONVEYING MEANS[72] Inventor: George Wilson, Mississauga, Ontario,

Canada [73] Assignee: Acme Visible Records, Inc., Crozet, Va.

[22] Filed: July 13, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 54,404

[52] U.S.Cl ..l98/l31 [51] Int Cl ..B65g 15/00 [58] Field oISearch161/53; lO1/4l5.1;24/204, 24/D1G. 18; 139/37; l28/D1G. 15; 198/41, 131,198

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,327,419 6/1967 Stanos-..24/201V 9/1966 Sarovich 198/41 4/1946 Michna 198/1 84 PrimaryExaminer-Richard E. Aegerter AnorneyGary, .luettner, Pigott & Cullinan[5 7] ABSTRACT Vertically and/or horizontally traveling conveyor beltand a pocket member for conveying documents, one of said belt anddocument conveyors having fixed thereto pile fabric and the othercomplementary hook fabric whereby the conveyor can be releasably securedto and separated from the belt when desired.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Patented April 25, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IWe QQ Patented April 25, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w enzon:

DOCUMENT CONVEYING MEANS The present invention relates to documentconveying means which is particularly adapted to vertically conveydocuments between one or more floors and from or to suitable sending andreceiving stations.

More particularly, the document conveying means of the present inventioncomprises a continuous belt stretched between spaced rolls and drivingmeans therefor together with a document conveyor comprising a flexiblepocket member for reception of documents to be conveyed and wherein oneof said belt and said pocket members has fixed thereto pile fabric andother complementary hook fabric whereby the pocket member can bereleasably secured to the belt by a simple pressure exerted manually orby a pressure device, the two being separable manually or by meansinterposed in the path of movement between the belt and the pocketmember.

If desired the document conveying means of the present invention cancomprise a horizontal component and a vertical component so that thedocuments can be moved first horizontally and then vertically, in whichcase direction changing rolls are disposed adjacent the opposed runs ofthe endless belt.

The document conveying means of the present invention may also suitablybe combined with conventional document conveyors of the class comprisingtwo or more channel defining upwardly open horizontally disposed wallswith a conveyor belt running at the base thereof such as is described inU.S. Pat. No. 3,042,185 to G. A. Welch, and known under the trademarkORDA-FI..O. This may be accomplished by disposing the conveyor belt ofthe present invention while passing around a roller at endwise openchannels of conveyors of the aforesaid patent or by disposing theconveyor belt of the present invention adjacent to a lateral opening oropenings in opposed channel walls of the conveyor of the aforesaidpatent.

The document conveyor means of the present invention may also beassociated with separator means in combination with hinged selectivelyelectrically operated diverting gates projecting into and out of thepath of movement of a belt and associated document conveyor of thepresent invention whereby the document conveyor pocket can be dischargedat a preselected station or point of travel on the conveyor belt. Theactual programming and selection of a specific document conveyor orpoint of discharge at a specific one of a plurality of stations can beaccomplished as a result of providing the document conveyor pocketmembers of the present invention with a plurality of holes or pluralityof projections disposed in the same position relationship ascomplementary photocells or microswitches on fixed programming headsdisposed adjacent diverting gates as more particularly described in mycopending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 847,627, filed Aug. 5, 1969,now abandoned entitled Automatic Conveyor Discharge Station Selector.

The pile fabric and complementary hook fabric employed in the presentinvention is conventionally sold under the trademark VELCRO and moreparticularly described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,717,437; 2,933,797; and3,009,235, one of the fabrics being covered with soft loops such asnylon and generally designated as the pile tape, and the other beingformed with permanent hooks that can also be of nylon and designated asthe hook tape. They can be joined by pressing them together intoanchoring relationship and separated by simply peeling them apart.

The present invention, its details of construction, arrangement ofparts, and the economies and advantages thereof will be apparent from aconsideration of the following specification and accompanying drawingswherein,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the conveyor assembly of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the document conveyor of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view of the VELCRO pile and hookfabrics associated with each other.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on the line 4-4 of FIG.1.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic perspective view of another arrangement of thedocument conveyor with associated apparatus of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings and particularly FIG. 3, the VEL- CRO fabriccomprises one layer 10 formed with hooks 11 which are adapted tointerlock and to engage with the piles 12 of fabric 13, when the layers10 and 13 are pressed together. They can be separated by simply peelingthem apart, forming a temporary but firm interlock when desired.

The document conveyor pockets of the present invention comprise abacking member 14 which may be of somewhat flexible paperboard havingassociated therewith a suitably transparent layer 15 adapted to holdbetween them flatwise one or more documents 16 to be conveyed. Thepocket forming layer 15 of the document conveyor in the illustrationshown by FIG. 2 has two spaced strips of VELCRO pile fabric 13, 13secured thereto as by adhesion and extending transversely thereof. Inthe alternative, they may extend vertically and in lieu of being on thefacing 15 can be on the backing 14.

The conveyor belt to which the document conveyors are engaged comprisean endless belt 17 as shown in FIG. 1 stretched between an opposed pairof rollers 18, 18 and driven by suitable means such as diagrammaticallyillustrated by the motor 19. The rolls l8, 18 are journaled in suitablyopposed housing walls 20, 20. The assembly shown in FIG. 1 can extendbetween two or more floors and the belt 17 has secured thereto anddisposed longitudinally thereof one or more spaced strips 10 of VELCROfabric.

Thus, by merely pressing a document conveyor pocket member and itsVELCRO fabric strips 13 against the mating fabric strips 10 of theconveyor belt 17, the two may be associated as shown in FIG. 1 at somesuitable point, either manually or by some pressing means. The meansindicated in FIG. 1 for associating the two components, although theinvention is not limited thereto, comprises a horizontally disposedORDA-FLO document conveyor comprising the opposed vertically extendingupwardly open channel walls 21, 21 with the lateral opening at 22 on oneof the channel walls adjacent to which the belt 17 is disposed. As thedocument conveyor travels on the belt 23 at the base of the channels 21,21, and as it arrives at the lateral opening 22, it is thereat divertedby means of a plate cam 24 and an offset guide 25 which is horizontallyadjustable by the means 26. As the document carrier is cammed out of theopening 22 in the side of one of the conveyor walls 21 it is pressedagainst the belt 17 and the two mating pairs of the VELCRO strips gripand carry the document conveyor pocket upward as shown in FIG. 1, itbeing understood that on the opposed face or run of the belt 17 thedocument secured thereto will be carried in a downward direction whenthe belt is driven in the direction indicated.

The cushion strip 27 stops the horizontal motion of the documentconveyor as it travels to the belt 17. As the document conveyor pocketmoves up with the belt 17 it passes under the plate 28 which wipes thedocument conveyor pocket into tighter contact with the belt 17. As thedocument conveyor pocket reaches the upper transverse part it is liftedaway from the belt 17 by two sloping fingers 29, 29 and thus the twoportions of the VELCRO are stripped apart. Outer guide plate 30 isspaced out from the stripper plate 31 on which the stripper fingers 29,29 are mounted and thus the document conveyor pocket goes up between theplate 31 of the guide 30. When the document conveyor pocket is strippedcompletely from the belt 17, it then drops by gravity into a suitablereceptacle or between the channels 21, 21' of the horizontally disposedupwardly open ORDA-FLO conveyor and onto its moving frictional conveyorbelt 23'. In the alternative in lieu of the horizontally disposedconveyor, there may be a mere collecting receptacle disposed for exampleon or adjacent to the desk of an operator. In the opposed direction thestripping parts are substantially the same but converse.

In some instances it may be desirable for the document conveyor to passaround, for example, the roller 18 as illustrated in FIG. 4, and forsuch purposes the facing 15 and backing 14 of the document conveyor areof flexible material and to retain the document conveyor with the belt17 a shield such as the arcuate top 32 is provided as well as a similararcuate bottom 33 in close proximity to the belt and the rollers 18.

Although not shown, the assembly of the stripper plate 31 and itsassociated fingers 29, 29 and stop member 30 may be hingedly mounted soas to move out of the path of the belt 17 and alternately into positionas shown in FIG. 1, and this may be accomplished by remote controlelectrical means similar to the selective gates more particularlydescribed in my aforesaid copending application.

Although the arrangement of FIG. 1' shows a vertically disposed conveyorassembly, the arrangement of FIG. shows a combination of horizontal andvertical conveyor components wherein the conveyor belt 34 is endwisestretched between the rolls 35 and 36 and turned from a horizontaldirection shown at the left of the drawing to a vertical position shownat the right of the drawing by means of the interposed pairs of rolls37, 37 and 38, 38. Means for driving the conveyor belt 34 over theaforesaid rolls is shown diagrammatically by means of the motor 39associated by means of suitable belting and gearing to the roll 38although it will be understood that other driving arrangements may besuitably employed.

The belt 34 is provided on its outer surface with in this case threelongitudinally disposed strips of VELCRO hook fabric to which there canbe associated as by pressing engagement the companion VELCRO pile strips13 of the document conveyor pocket. The horizontally disposed section ofthe conveyor belt shown in FIG. 5 moves in the direction of the arrowshown and passes under the roller 37 and outwardly of the roller 38, andthen moved vertically upwardly for example between two or more floors toa desired station where it is stripped by means such as shown in FIG. 1or by a stripper such as 40 wherefrom the document conveyor drops into areceptacle 41. in the reverse direction, feeding. of the documentconveyor onto a conveyor belt 34 may be accomplished from a platform 42and beneath the guide 43 which not only holds the flexible documentconveyor around upper roll 36 but presses it into engagement with thebelt 34.

When the document is conveyed upwardly around roller 38 it is bent andguided and held pressed against the belt 34 by means of the curved guide44. Other suitable curved or armate guide means where the belt 34 passesaround rolls may be provided such as at 45 when the document moves alongthe outer surface of belt 34 around one of the rolls 37 as illustrated.

During the vertical run, document conveyor pockets may be fed intopressed engagement with the belt 34 between the holder 46 and plate 47.3,042,185

In the illustration of FIG. 5, there is also shown the combination ofthe conveyor means of the present invention with the ORDA-FLO conveyorsuch as shown in the aforesaid US. Pat. No. 3,042,185 comprising theupwardly open channel forming members 48 and frictional conveyor belt orbelts 49 between the adjacent channel members 48. The channels definedby the members 48 are here endwise open and disposed adjacent to thebelt 34 as it passes around roller 35. Instead of being guided aroundthe roller 35 the document conveyors can be deflected therefrom by adeflector 50 and pass into the channel defined between the members 48for horizontal conveying on the friction belt 49. In a similar manner,pockets can be fed between a pair of adjacent channel members 48 ontoand in engagement with theconveyor belt 34 where the document conveyorpockets and belt 34 are then held in association by means of theirrespective VEL- CRO components.

It will be understood that there may be associated with the aforesaidand/or vertical runs of the endless belt 34, or with the components ofthe downwardly disposed upwardly open document conveyor defined by thewalls 48, the automatic conveyor discharge station selector of myaforesaid copending application, althou not shown. D Although i have sown and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in thedetails thereof without departing from its scope as comprehended by thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. Document conveying means comprising a continuous belt having anoutwardly facing surface, means for driving said belt, document carryingmeans for holding a document to be conveyed, pile fabric means fixed oneither said document carrying means or the outwardly facing surface ofsaid belt and complementary hook fabric means fixed on the other forenabling releasable securement of said document carrying means to saidbelt, means for bringing said document carrying means into contact andsecurement with said belt, and means for releasing and separating saiddocument carrying means from said belt.

2. The document conveying means of claim 1 wherein means are providedadjacent said belt to receive said document carrying means beneath itspoint of separation from the belt.

3. The document conveying means of claim 1 wherein said means forbringing said document carrying means into contact with said beltcomprises conveyor means for bringing said document carrying means injuxtaposition with said belt, and means for pushing said documentconveyor means into contact with said belt.

4. The document conveying means of claim 3 wherein said means forbringing said document carrying means into jux taposition with said beltincludes means for stopping the document carrying means in a juxtaposedposition with said belt.

5. The document conveying means of claim 1 wherein said documentcarrying means is wider than said belt and wherein the means forseparating said document carrying means from said belt comprises astripper disposed on an angle inwardly on the side of the belt.

1. Document conveying means comprising a continuous belt having anoutwardly facing surface, means for driving said belt, document carryingmeans for holding a document to be conveyed, pile fabric means fixed oneither said document carrying means or the outwardly facing surface ofsaid belt and complementary hook fabric means fixed on the other forenabling releasable securement of said document carrying means to saidbelt, means for bringing said document carrying means into contact andsecurement with said belt, and means for releasing and separating saiddocument carrying means from said belt.
 2. The document conveying meansof claim 1 wherein means are provided adjacent said belt to receive saiddocument carrying means beneath its point of separation from the belt.3. The document conveying means of claim 1 wherein said means forbringing said document carrying means into contact with said beltcomprises conveyor means for bringing said document carrying means injuxtaposition with said belt, and means for pushing said documentconveyor means into contact with said belt.
 4. The document conveyingmeans of claim 3 wherein said means for bringing said document carryingmeans into juxtaposition with said belt includes means for stopping thedocument carrying means in a juxtaposed position with said belt.
 5. Thedocument conveying means of claim 1 wherein said document carrying meansis wider than said belt and wherein the means for separating saiddocument carrying means from said belt comprises a stripper disposed onan angle inwardly on the side of the belt.